June 7, 2023

As longtime readers know, I don't like Chris Christie. At all. He pretends to be different from Trump, but I'm scratching my head, trying to remember a time he disagreed with a Trump policy. And he lies as easily as he breathes.

However. It will, at the very least, be refreshing to see Christie go for Trump's jugular in a way no other Republican candidate has the nerve to do. And when the indictments come down, a former prosecutor's attacks may carry some weight.

But I'm wary. Christie appeals to many people for the same reason Trump does: "He tells it like it is." As he did here, going after Jared and Ivanka:

Back in 2015, Christie was considered a frontrunner. Then he endorsed Trump. Via Politico:

The shock of Christie’s endorsement — and the nakedly opportunistic vibe it conveyed — proved costly. Christie faced withering criticism within his own party. The Union Leader, which has a storied history in Republican presidential primary politics, immediately rescinded its earlier endorsement of Christie.

“Boy, were we wrong,” publisher Joseph W. McQuaid wrote. “Watching Christie kiss the Donald’s ring this weekend — and make excuses for the man Christie himself had said was unfit for the presidency — demonstrated how wrong we were. Rather than standing up to the bully, Christie bent his knee. In doing so, he rejected the very principles of his campaign that attracted our support.”

"Nakedly opportunistic." Sounds about right. It was rumored that Christie wanted to be the attorney general.

From Five Thirty Eight at the New York Times:

Finally, even if Christie gets a platform from which to attack Trump, it may not even make a difference. Remember, almost half of Republicans dislike Christie (and 77 percent think well of Trump), so they probably wouldn’t be too receptive to Christie’s arguments. Christie’s attacks on Trump might not land that much better than attacks on Trump from the mass media or President Biden — two other entities that are unpopular with Republican voters. Sure, Christie might have some credibility that those two don’t because he’s a fellow Republican, but don’t count on that. As Michael Tesler recently wrote for FiveThirtyEight, Republicans’ devotion to Trump is so strong that they stop considering Republican politicians to be conservative after they start criticizing Trump.

Probably no one will be shocked to learn that Christie has a vanishingly small chance of becoming the Republican nominee for president. Though he once had that potential, his window of opportunity closed long ago. Instead, his best shot at making a difference in this race is as an attack dog. But it’s fair to wonder whether he is now too irrelevant to be effective even at that.

Well, as we know, the national media is notoriously bad at predicting election outcomes. In this case, I hope they're right for a change.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon